Check out our cover story video

Brothers Julian (left) and Sly Erofeeff grew up helping their father with his siding business.

Grace Point Contracting LLC installed Nichiha Illumination collection siding at Benton Health Center in Corvallis, Oregon, making it one of the few contractors in Oregon with expertise in this specialty siding. The company also re-framed and installed all windows.

The Golden Rule is a philosophy that brothers Julian and Sly Erofeeff put into practice with their customers. As a result, their company, Grace Point Contracting LLC, has doubled its business every year since it was founded five years ago.

In fact, the Golden Rule is part of the company’s mission statement, which reads: “We believe in the Golden Rule—Treat everyone as you want to be treated. Fairness is our foundation. We will put faith back into the ‘contractor.’ We provide and install products that withhold the elements as long as scientifically possible for each specific installation. We only perform to the standard equal to what we would do to our personal homes.”

Julian, Co-Owner and General Manager, began the Woodburn, Oregon-based exterior contractor business installing siding for single-family residential homes. His goal was to renew customers’ faith in contractors by being attentive from start to finish. “We’re customer-service driven and want to make it as easy as possible for our customers,” says Sly, also a Co-Owner and General Manager. “Our goal is to give our customers an exterior that is never going to go bad.”

Sly joined the firm three years ago as a partner and the business expanded into multifamily residential and commercial work. Today, Grace Point Contracting focuses on turnkey exteriors—including siding, windows, framing, gutters and exterior doors—for customers located from Eugene, Oregon, to Vancouver, Washington.

The company, which started in Julian’s garage, recently moved into a newly renovated office that houses 25 employees. The brothers remodeled the modern office space themselves, and it speaks to their quality of work.

Today, Grace Point Contracting provides turnkey services to builders and general contractors who call on them for exterior services. While some competitors may provide a low bid and then add change orders that increase the final cost of the job, Grace Point Contracting makes sure its initial estimates cover all the bases. “Our bids are comprehensive and include every possible thing you can think of,” Julian says. “We study the plans and specs and try to give our customers all the costs upfront. Then from there, we work to build trust, so when they hire us, they see the value.”

“We take care of everything so they don’t have to do it themselves,” Sly adds.

Like Father, Like Sons

The brothers were born into the siding business. Their father, Demetry, is a siding contractor, and they helped him after school and on holidays throughout their youth. Both born in Oregon, when Julian was 8 and Sly was 5, the family moved to Minnesota, where their father continued in the siding business. In October 2011, Julian, who was working for a painting and drywall contractor, decided to move back to Oregon to be closer to his wife’s family. He worked for a finish carpentry company before deciding to go out on his own in 2015.

“I hit the lid on what I could achieve there, so I decided to start a company that would be an amazing place for people to work; one where people would enjoy what they do every day,” Julian says.

To create that culture, Julian believes in enabling people to “upgrade” their skills. “Most construction-related firms are places where you come and swing a hammer all day, then go back home and come back the next day and do it over again for the next 40 years. I try to get my people to level up—to get them out of the field and into management. I want them working with their minds,” he says.

One key to the firm’s success is its ability to recruit top talent. “We operate under the approach that the best time to hire or recruit is when you have enough people,” Sly says. “We have someone in the office whose job is to recruit 24/7.” The firm follows a two-point interview process, in which a member of the office team first interviews the recruit. The second interview is with Sly and Julian. “We only look for ‘A’ players. A lot of our recruiting is word-of-mouth. If you have rock stars on the team, they tell others about the company and you attract other rock stars,” Sly says.

Taking on Challenges

The team enjoys tackling challenging projects, such as a recent exterior job on a five-story building surrounded by power lines. “We couldn’t use a lift or crane due to the hazard, so we built a custom window winch to winch all the windows into the opening with suction cups and did the whole install from there. It was challenging, but we got it done. That’s the fun stuff for us,” Sly says.

The firm is committed to continuous improvement. As Sly says, “You’re only as good as your last at bat, so you need to keep growing every day so you can be better than you were the day before. There are no free rides.”

"You’re only as good as your last at bat, so you need to keep growing every day so you can be better than you were the day before. There are no free rides.” Sly Erofeeff, Co-Owner and General Manager, Grace Point Contracting LLC

Grace Point Contracting has completed more than 200 projects since it was founded. Sly says he and his brother are especially proud of the company’s largest project to date—a renovation of the Benton Health Center in Corvallis, Oregon, where the company did a remodel and complete framing, window and Nichiha siding installation for general contractor, Woodburn Construction Company.

It was Grace Point Contracting’s first time to install Nichiha premium plank siding, made of fiber cement panels, and the company hit it out of the park, making it one of the few contractors in the area experienced with this specialty product.

The company also recently completed a framing and siding project for a Pizza Hut in Woodburn, Oregon; siding for a 130-unit apartment project in Bend, Oregon; and structural seismic upgrades on four schools.

The company’s relationship with The Blue Book Network® has been key in opening doors to possible construction projects, and the brothers regularly participate in meet and greets sponsored by the Network. “We have the opportunity to shake hands with contractors and their subs so we can start building relationships,” Sly says. “Through The Blue Book Network, we find general contractors and learn about their building projects.” The brothers plan to continue company growth as long and as far as the market will take them.

Julian says residential construction in the area is at peak production, while the outlook for multifamily housing and commercial projects looks strong over the next three years.

Their older sister, Zoia Molodyh, joined the firm as its bookkeeper nine months ago. She credits the company’s success to how well “the two boys” as she affectionately calls them, work together. “One’s a visionary, and the other is a logic guy. Julian is very artistic, thinks out of the box and pushes the boundaries. Sly is more grounded and structured. They push each other and complement each other. It’s why they’ve been so successful. These boys are very reliable,” she says.

“We always try to make a customer’s life as easy as possible, and that sets us apart by a long shot,” Sly adds. “One way or another, we get the job done, regardless of what it is or what the situation is.”